Blessing
by CoffeeOwl
Summary: Sweet two-shot inspired by the latest CM promo in which a new character reveals herself to be the daughter of one of the BAU. "I think she may have romantic inclinations towards me." This is how Rossi responds to the budding relationship between his daughter and Reid. Family is everything, and what closer family is there than the BAU?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note**: this two-shot is inspired by the latest CM promo in which a new character reveals herself to be the daughter of one of the BAU.

Reid loitered behind at the end of the day, while the rest of the team departed one by one. As is always the case with this room full of profilers, the person one wants to speak to in private is the last one to leave the room.

"Rossi, can I uh… have a word please?" Reid started sheepishly, adjusting and readjusting the strap of his sachet and looking for all the world a bashful high school teenager.

"Sure, kid. What's on your mind?"

"It's about your… daughter."

Rossi heaved a great sigh, "I don't think I'll ever get used to that word."

"I imagine you will eventually. Anyone would be shocked to discover a long-lost child, it's one of the things that (for some reason) I have recurring dreams about. Also kidnappings and being mysteriously reverted back to my childhood age and having to be taken care of by the team…"

"Don't envy the psychiatrist who'd have to analyse _that_."

"It would be a foundation-shaking change for anyone, but it's something I'm sure you'll eventually get accustomed to, and in all likelihood, learn to love."

"You being a kid again?"

"You having a daughter."

"Jeez, that word again."

"But there's something specific I wanted to talk to you about with regards to her."

"You've been dancing around the point for five minutes now, out with it."

"Two minutes, forty-five. She and I… I think she's a compassionate, intelligent, courageous human being, and a case in point if ever there was one for nature over nurture, considering where she's gotten her genes but not her upbringing from…"

"You're beating about the bush again. Not to mention brown-nosing."

"_I think she may have romantic inclinations towards me_."

"Ah."

"I thought they were one-sided from my end, but I was talking to her earlier about… uh… you, and we got onto the topic of molecularly imprinted polymers and their potential as pharmaceutical tools for-"

"Reid."

"Right. Sorry, I'm not normally this flustered talking about relationships."

"Yes, you are."

"My point is, I felt… attracted to her personality and intellectual aptitude from the beginning."

"Personality and intellectual aptitude. You know, you're the one person in the world who I believe when they say that's what they're first attracted to in a woman."

"I had no clue she could possibly reciprocate my feelings," Rossi grimaced but said nothing. "But then when we were talking…"

"Kid. Reid. If you're asking for my blessing here… that's completely unnecessary."

"I know you've only known her for a week and might not straightaway feel the possessive paternal sentiments towards her, but if there was any risk at all of my interactions with her leading to a rift-"

"Reid, it's not necessary because any father would be proud and honoured to have a gentleman like you expressing…_ romantic inclinations_ for their daughter. You're a caring, considerate, protective individual, not to mention bright. And I can't for the life of me imagine you even entertaining the idea of doing anything that could hurt my… daughter."

"Rossi…"

"Criminy, Reid, you have my blessing." The widest, goofiest grin stretched across the young man's face and Rossi felt a sudden pang of affection for the kid. "Now get out of here, it's been a long day and I have a bar to hit."

"Thanks, Rossi."

"Don't mention it kid, you're one of the good ones."

He didn't say it out loud but was considering what it would be like to welcome Reid into his family. It wasn't a terrible notion.


	2. Chapter 2

Later that night, Rossi sat on a bar stool, his Cuba Libre already down to its dregs. The sound of heels alerted him to an incoming presence. A tall, elegant woman with strikingly large eyes and flawless skin saddled up to him and took the seat beside him.

"Sorry I took so long, I got a call I wasn't expecting, then I rather lost track of time talking."

"Was that Reid who called?"

"How did you… _profilers_, right? Criminy, how do you ever keep secrets from one another when your entire personal lives can be read with a single psychic glance?"

"We manage all right with the secrets. Everyone seems to have a couple. I had one myself, and I didn't even know about it." He gave her a pointed look as he reached over for the glass.

"I know I came into your life out of nowhere and it's clearly been a shock to the system, but I really want to get to know you, I want you to be a part of my life. And not as an internationally-acclaimed author, or well-reputed federal agent, but as a…"

"Father?"

"Jeez, I don't know if I'll ever get used to that word."

"I know the feeling."

More drinks were ordered and the two managed to put away quite a respectable amount between them. They began to warm up towards one another, and conversation flowed more easily. They would both burst into laughter together, sombre up to tell one another sad tales. Rossi reminisced about her mother, but only as far as their early relationship, before it all went downhill. Leah talked about her work and all the countries it had taken her. Being quite a prolific traveller himself in his younger years, Rossi was very much drawn into the anecdotes, and it transpired that daughter had practically traced father's footsteps across the world without knowing it. But however good-humoured the conversation got, she couldn't shake the feeling of being interrogated, as if she was being vetted for something.

Towards the end of the night when the barman called for last round and when one of the workers started putting chairs upside down on the tables at the far end of the bar, Rossi finally got to the point he had been meaning to raise all evening.

"I understand you've taken a bit of an interest in our resident genius."

"Profilers. Why do you even need to talk to one another. Just mind-read and save yourself the time."

"I've known him since he was… what, twenty-three? I can't even remember now. He was an infuriating little know-it-all, awkward as a… really awkward thing standing on stilts and telling lame-ass physics jokes."

"I like a good lame-ass physics joke."

Rossi sat up a little straighter, as if it would sober up his pleasantly-inebriated mind for an important conversation. "The kid's like a son to me."

"Oh, well that won't make our relationship awkward for anyone. Hey, I know I've only known you for a week, but should I be asking for your blessing, or…?"

"If you even _think_ about doing anything to hurt him… if you steal his genius invention ideas and copyright them, or say a word against his mother, or give him shtick about his father, if you lie to him, or cheat on him, or get kidnapped and have your brains blown out in front of him… do anything to hurt him and what you'll have on your hands is a team of angry federal agents after your blood, and no amount of border-crossing, disposable cell-phone and fake identity using is going to help you. You may be my daughter, but I'd be leading the investigation."

She had rather sobered up herself by this point. "He really means a lot to you, doesn't he?"

"He's been through a different level of hell every year I've known him and he still has the optimism and good nature of a kid. Though he doesn't tell lame-ass physics jokes anymore… If there were more people like him, this world would be a much better place."

"And we'd have invented teleportation, solved world-hunger and cured aging by now."

"His intelligence has nothing to do with it. He's an honest-to-God good human being. He's _forgotten_ more ways of being virtuous than I've ever known. And he forgets nothing."

"I've noticed. Eidetic memory?"

"Which makes it all the worse if you damage the kid. He might act stroppy for a few days, like a kicked puppy, then he'll forgive you. But he'll never forget about it."

"You don't think I'm good enough for him?" she asked, more inquisitive than affronted.

"I don't know you well enough to say."

"Look, I have no intention of hurting anyone. I didn't crash into your life to make things difficult for you, or to ask for money or a place to stay, I'm here so I can get to know you. Building up meaningful relationships is all I want to do. I hope I'll one day earn from you the level of respect you have for Spencer."

"Glad to hear it. I don't mean to put you out, you know. I may only have known you for a week, but you seem like a genuinely good person yourself."

"The bartender replies: 'Sorry, but we don't serve particles faster than light.'"

"Sorry?"

"A neutrino walks into a bar."

"You have my blessing, kid."


End file.
